


Merry and Bright

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Christmas Fluff, F/M, First Kiss, First Meetings, Romance, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 21:04:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13039374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: Rose and Jonathan have never met, but sometimes they each notice the colors around them getting brighter. Could it have something to do with their soulmarks? One snowy night, trapped in the university library, they find out…





	Merry and Bright

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EmKayWho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmKayWho/gifts).



> Soulmate AU where the closer you are to your soulmate the brighter colors become. The farther away you are, the grayer the world becomes. Once you finally kiss your soulmate the world stays bright.

In the past four years, Jonathan had been coming to the same university library every evening he could. Sometimes he studied, sometimes he attended events the library hosted, often he brought friends for coffee in the coffeeshop… he even picked up a summer job in the library so he could make some extra cash. No one suspected the reason why. Probably because Jonathan hadn’t told them.

The colors of his world brightened when he was there. Not always, but usually enough that he became accustomed to it. In fact, it was one of the reasons he was continuing his research here instead of moving on to another academic institution after he graduated with his bachelors. He was regarded as brilliant by many, though he could never forgive himself for being so slow on picking up why the world seemed so much more colorful when he was in this particular location, more than any other.

He knew he was different. Few of his “kind” existed anymore. It was only through the nature of their supernatural abilities that they survived: He was soulmarked. Descended from ancient tribes all over the world, each soulmated couple bore a simple dark birthmark around their wedding ring finger. It was a sign and a reminder that they were already destined to be bonded with another. Each couple had a different way of finding each other. Some marks burned with the meeting of the couple, some had a shared pattern that completed when they wed, and others simply knew at first sight. That’s how Jonathan always imagined his would be. He would see her and just _know_.

But what if—and it was a wild theory but what else could it be?—what if it was his soulmate altering his perception? What if the cones in his retinas were hyperactivated by the proximity of his soulmate? What if she was somewhere in this very building?

Over his senior fall semester, he started paying closer attention every time he noticed the color enhancement. None of the girls he saw bore the necessary soulmark on their fingers, or if they did, they had already found their mates and were sharing a date.

As Christmas drew near, he tried to focus on his finals and not worry about it. He still looked at every girl who came in to see if she could be the one, and he still searched the library when the colors were exceptionally bright, but he couldn’t find his soulmate.

Instead, he tried to focus on the delights of the bright colors of all the decorations in the coffeeshop: the holly and berries, the fireplace at one end of the café where the professors liked to sit, the red and green and gold and silver decorations… especially the multi-colored lights on the tree. Tonight they shone especially bright, making it hard for him to concentrate on the plain black and white text on the laptop in front of him. He sighed and took it all in.

That’s when he noticed an uncomfortable-looking young blonde woman shifting in her chair. She was fidgeting as if this coffeeshop had not been in her plans for the evening. She wore open-fingered gloves that covered up to her knuckle, so he couldn’t see a soulmark ring, but he could see she wasn’t wearing a diamond. He looked away just as she noticed him staring at her hands. He sipped his hot cocoa and directed his gaze out the window. The snow was coming down harder than he thought. He would be snowed in if he stayed too much longer.

Just then, an announcement came over the library’s intercom that the roads were too icy and all library patrons and coffeeshop customers should stay inside unless their dorms were within walking distance, in which case, they should hurry home. A few of the younger students rustled past with their thick coats and backpacks, but the older students and staff just grumbled and stayed put. They were in for the night.

* * *

 

Rose Tyler had found her favorite spot on campus in her first week at university. She’d been coming to the rooftop of the library almost daily for four years to practice her sketching and painting. She had a special key as one of the student staff photographers for the university, so she was allowed access. It helped to get away when the stress of work and classes and art shows and social events pulled her in a million different directions. Then there was her soulmark. She’d thought she would find her soulmate here, but so far no luck. There were times when, well, the colors in her world just seemed so much _brighter_. That was another reason she loved painting on the roof. Her art up here outshined anything she did elsewhere. Sometimes she’d get little increases of color while walking around campus, but they never lasted for long. It had taken a conversation with her mother, who had been soulmated to her late father, for her to put the pieces together.

She had tried to look out over campus to see if the colors got brighter as one specific person moved closer, but she never saw a pattern.

That is, until she actually ventured down into the coffeeshop when it got too cold to stay on the roof. Usually she’d be home by now, but she’d gotten caught up in sketching a particularly beautiful snowy scene and needed a drink to warm up as she finished editing photos for work.

The coffeeshop wasn’t proving to be her favorite place. The colors of all the decorations were bright and beautiful, but it was crowded and loud—not at all the right vibe for trying to get work done.

Someone was staring at her. In particular at her gloves. She didn’t mind as much, though, when she saw who it was. The man had dark brown eyes, matching gorgeous brown hair that stood up as if he had been mussing it in stress with his long fingers, rolled up sleeves making the shirt tight over his fit biceps, and sexy glasses that gave his boyish looks an intellectual quality. He noticed her noticing him noticing her and looked away to the window, which was all the better as it gave her a view of his sharply angled profile. The change in lighting as he turned revealed a dusting of freckles over his cheekbones. Rose was officially smitten. Or at least, physically attracted.

She chastised herself. What was she doing? She was soulmated! To… whoever was making these colors so vibrant. Her heart stopped. He had a soulmark ring too. What if…

Her fantasies were interrupted by the library intercom.

She was snowed in with a fit stranger who happened to be in the same place at the same time of the most vibrant colors she had ever experienced. Maybe this coffeeshop wasn’t so bad after all.

* * *

 

She was smiling at him, just a little one with the slight upturn of her lips, but she was definitely interested, this beautiful stranger whose fingers he couldn’t see. He couldn’t help it, though. She was more than attractive. She seemed to glow with light and color from her seat next to the large Christmas tree. The chair next to hers opened up, and he saw his opportunity.

He attempted to hurry without looking like he was hurrying before someone else could claim the seat. She saw him approach and smiled brighter. That was definitely a good sign.

Out of the blue, another student tried to sit next to her and he felt the sinking dread of shame in his gut. He’d been so presumptuous! But then, before he could turn back around and slink back to his seat at a table, the beautiful young woman shooed off the other student and pointed to him! He resisted mouthing “Who? Me?” but just barely. Instead, he took his place by her side and opened up his laptop coolly, as if nothing had happened.    

“Rose,” she said to him, as if it were a passcode.

“Sorry?” He blinked stupidly, still in awe such a pretty girl had said anything to him at all.

“My name, in case you were wondering.” She grinned with a touch of her tongue teasing him in the corner. Was she making fun of him?

“I was. Wondering, that is. Um, thanks.” He ducked his head back down to try to pretend he was working.

“Well?” she prodded, clearly expecting more.

“Oh! Right!” He whipped his attention back to her and adjusted his glasses. “Jonathan. Pleased to meet you.” He stuck out his hand awkwardly, and she shook it, laughing at the formality.

They both gasped as they touched. The colors in the room flickered. In case they had any doubt, the colors did it again.

“Did you…?” she dared to ask.

“Yeah… Yup.” His mouth gaped like a fish.

She scowled at him suddenly and he wondered what on earth he’d done wrong. It wasn’t his fault! But before he could explain, she sat up straight and regal.

“Let me see your hand.” It wasn’t a question.

Wanting to ask why but also willing to obey, he raised the hand that had shaken hers.

“The other one.” She shook her head once.

Soon his thick skull caught on and he raised the hand with his soulmark.

“To be honest,” he explained, “I’m not even sure if it works. It thinks my soulmate is here. Or at least, that’s the best I can guess. But I’ve never found her.”

“Why do you think she’s here?” Rose fixed him with scrutiny enough to rival any queen.

“The colors. They…”

“Get brighter,” she finished. “When you’re here, especially right now, in this moment, the colors are better.”

“Yes,” he exhaled.

“They are for me too,” she choked out, emotions getting the better of her.

“Please, can I?” He gestured to her glove. She took off the correct one and showed him her soulmark, a ring on her left ring finger, the same place as his and all who were soulmated.

“You don’t have a… do you?”

“A… a boyfriend?” she guessed, voice increasing in pitch. “No, I don’t… not when I… you know.”

“Yeah,” he added eloquently. “I don’t either. Girlfriend or boyfriend or anything. I’ve been waiting four years, hoping one day…”

“Me too,” she confessed. “So how do I know it’s you?”

He rose to his feet and set his laptop on the chair, ready to test her challenge. “I’ll walk to the farthest corner of the library, and you can tell me what you see.”

“Alright.” A knot formed in her stomach as soon as he walked away. She knew it was ridiculous. He had left his belongings right next to her! But something in her ached for him to come back. He seemed to be gone for a long while, though she knew it was probably only a few minutes. That’s when she remembered: She was testing him. The colors in the room did seem to dull a bit the longer he was gone. Even the bright lights of the Christmas tree and the decorations were muted, not colorless, but just… bland.

She grinned wide as he returned.

“Well?” he asked, anxious to hear her assessment.

“It’s you,” she breathed in awe. “I mean, did they fade for you too?”

He couldn’t keep her in suspense, as tempting as it was to draw out her hopeful doe-eyed wonder.

“With every step. It even became harder to walk away. So soon! We’re practically strangers! We’ve barely touched!”

“Good thing we’ve got all night to get to know each other.” She smiled again, and his heart melted into a puddle, leaving him speechless. “You know, with the snow?”

“Yep, and I know just the place!” He gathered his stuff and gestured for her to do the same. She normally wouldn’t just walk off to any part of the library with a stranger, but the coffeeshop was getting unbearably loud, and she already trusted him. He was her soulmate, after all, and soulmates were only matched if they truly were each other’s best possible mate.

Still, it sent a disproportionate thrill of adventure through her for him to be showing her a secret spot, even in somewhere as ordinary as a library.      

* * *

 

“I’ve already started assistant teaching a few freshman classes,” he explained as they approached a door on the third floor. “So they let me in here.”

He swung open the door to reveal a gorgeous graduate TA lounge with an electric fireplace, mahogany shelves and tables and chairs, rich maroon sofas and soft chairs in a complementary green (both draped with cream blankets), warm lighting, and, best of all, complete silence except for the light hum of the heater and the echo of the Christmas music playing somewhere outside the frosted window where snow was still gently falling.

“It’s perfect,” she sighed. “Do you come up here a lot?”

“Oh, all of the time, at least this semester. I’m in the coffeeshop most, and I used to work in the research department, and I’m starting my graduate work a semester early in the spring, but this…” he gestured to the comfy, homey setting, “is a favorite now that I’m allowed in.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. He furrowed his brow at this unexpected response.

“Sorry, it’s just…” She took a deep breath and calmed her voice but her express stayed incredulous. “You’ve been right here? All semester? On the top floor?”  

 “Yes…” he shifted uncomfortably, not understanding the humor.

“And one reason you like it is because the colors are even warmer here?”

He nodded and then raised his eyebrows in anticipation of her next words.

“I’ve got rooftop access. I’m a student staff photographer, so I come up there,” she pointed to the ceiling, “to work all of the time. In fact, I go up there every chance I can, except it was too cold tonight…”

“So you came down to the coffeeshop. Are you telling me we’ve been one floor apart for an entire semester and never met until just now?” He blinked in astonishment.

“Well, longer than that if you have been around the library as much as you say.”

“Since freshman year… one day, I noticed the colors of the book covers and posters and looked out the windows and… YOU! It’s because you were here!” He pointed at her excitedly.

She laughed. “Now you’re gettin’ it.”

He shook his head and blushed at how long it took him to figure out.

She plopped down on one of the sofas. “So got a last name to go with that Jonathan?”

“Ah, yes, makes sense we should know that if we’re soulmates, didn’t even give you my last name when we met. Rude, that’s me. Sorry.” He joined her on the sofa as he babbled. “It’s Noble. Jonathan Noble. I’ve a twin sister, Donna. She’s the one who organized the Christmas panto last week.”

“Oh! Donna? You’re twins?”

“Yeah, I know.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “We look nothing alike. Our dad isn’t in the picture, so we were raised by our mum and our grandfather, though I can’t say dear ol’ mum did much except provide financially and tear Donna down. Those two are always at it. ‘S how I got interested in my major, astrophysics. Gramps and I would go out and look at the stars when they were fighting.”

He was about to apologize for all his rambling when he caught her look of compassion. He felt like he could tell her anything. Still, he cleared his throat and diverted the attention away from himself. “So, got a last name to go with that Rose?”

She smiled at his echoing of her words.

“Tyler.”

“Rooose Tyler,” he tried it out on his tongue, rolling the words around like decadent chocolate. Rose dearly hoped this whole soulmate thing worked out because she wanted to hear him say it just like that forever.

“Yeah, I can relate a bit to your story, actually. My dad died when I was a baby. Raised by my mum in council estate housing in London. Luckily, I found art through an afterschool program when I was really young. Mum hated it when I told her I wanted to be an artist. Thought I needed a ‘real job,’ you know, but she just wanted better for me than what she had so I don’t blame her. Once I got the staff photography job, she backed off, and I’ve been helping her see how graphic design and such isn’t the starving artist future she had pictured.”

He nodded along and chuckled at all the right parts as she told her story. He chimed in with stories of fights with his own mum and how his grandfather defended him. He told her how Donna had changed from joining the debate team after being told all her life that she’d be nothing, and now she was going to law school.

“Just teaches me, you know,” he shrugged, “the future is so unknowable. We can do our best to plan, but in the end, something so much better is waiting on the other side than we ever could have imagined.”

The hope in his words made her heart flutter. “You think so?”

“Yeah. At least, I’d like to believe it.”  

“Jonathan,” she sighed, “I’m graduating in May.”

“So am I.” Then he caught on. “Oh. And I’m staying here.”

She nodded. “And I have no idea what my life holds. It might be here, might be on the other side of the City, might be… wherever in the world I get hired. I can’t promise to stay.”

“Oh.”

“But…” she bit her lip.

“But? I like but. But means there is an alternative to losing you so soon after finding you.”

She blushed and ducked her head into her shoulder before continuing, flattered by his words so soon after meeting her.

“The work I was going to do tonight was editing some photos and then… using them as part of an application for the university photography staff’s open position. They’ve already said I could finish out my degree and come on full time as soon as I graduate. _If_ I’m hired. But…”

“But?” he asked again.

“I think I’ve got a really good chance, especially because I’ve been working on my design skills and other things they want for the job. And I’ve been there longest out of any of the students, and even some of the full-time staff.”

“Yes!” He shot a fist in the air. “You can do this, Rose. It’s going to be brilliant; _you_ will be brilliant.”

She laughed at his antics. “How would you know? You’ve never even seen my work, at least, not while knowing it was mine. I mean, yes, you’ve probably seen my photos in loads of university things, but...”

“Ah-ha. No more buts.” He sent her a mock stern look. “Say, would you ever want to do timelapse? We have a special telescope we’re trying out next month, after the holidays.”

“I’d love that,” she accepted with gratitude.

“And you know, if you don’t believe me because I’ve never seen how good you are, there is a solution for that.” He nodded to her laptop. “You don’t have to, of course, but if you want, I’d love to see.”

“Yeah?” She didn’t wait for his answer as she fired up her computer.

They passed a few hours by her showing him her photos and explaining where they were taken and funny stories surrounding them. A few more hours went by as he showed her photos online of the stars he was studying. They exchanged holiday stories, and all the times they had noticed the colors brighter around campus when the other was nearby, and all about their classes and friends. It was a huge school, but it turns out, they had more people, places, and things in common than they had known: from her roommate, Martha, who was in his same STEM student organization to their mutual friend, Jack, who had been in Jonathan’s freshman dorm and had shared a few (unforgettable) classes with Rose.

By 4 a.m., it felt like they had been lifelong friends. However, they had both had very full days and the lounge was very cozy, so it was only natural that they took off their shoes, put on a movie on his laptop, shared a blanket (for warmth, of course), and fell asleep halfway in.

* * *

When Rose awoke in the morning, it was from the sunlight streaming in from the window, all the brighter from reflecting off the snow. The second thing she noticed, after squinting from the light, was that she was not only sleeping with another person but cuddled up against them, her head pillowed on his chest. A moment of confusion spiked through her before the night came back to her. She wasn’t in anyone’s bed. She was on a sofa in the library. With her soulmate.

It hadn’t been a dream. He was real and snoring lightly and his long lashes paired so well with his light freckles and messy brown hair that she had admired last night.

She moved off of him carefully so as not to disturb him and made her way to the loo. It was tiny, but even that in this graduate lounge was posh. She did her best to comb her fingers through her hair and straighten her clothes and splash water on her face. It was much more scandalous than it looked, as she was confident now that she was fully awake that they hadn’t even done so much as hold hands, but it still sent a thrill through her that they had spent the night together and she would be walking home today in yesterday’s clothes, even with such innocent circumstances.  

* * *

 

Jonathan was jolted awake to the sound of a heavy door closing. He sighed as he sat up and stretched. The library sofa hadn’t been kind to his neck. He had been having such a lovely dream that he met his soulmate, but of course, she was too gorgeous to be real. He looked around the empty lounge and was surprised to see a woman’s messenger bag on the other side of the sofa. Maybe… nah, probably another student just left it here.

“Morning,” came the warm melody of a feminine voice. He begged as he turned around, and sure enough, she was real! His soulmate was smiling shyly and waiting for him to respond.

“Hi,” he squeaked. He coughed and tried again, at a much more manly tone, “Good morning.”

“So, if you’re not busy… um, I was wondering…”

“Rose Tyler, would you like to have breakfast with me?” he rushed out before she could finish. She beamed at him. “I have no idea if the coffeeshop is even open, or the cafeterias or anything at all, but I would like to. Have breakfast with you, that is. Very much.”

Her stomach rumbled in agreement, making them both giggle.

After joining the rest of the library patrons in the lobby area, they learned that the roads were passable again, but that only the American-style diner near campus was open for breakfast.   

“Allons-y?” he asked her, waggling his eyebrows in invitation to syrup and eggs and flapjacks.

“You know French?” she asked as they walked out of the library and down the road to the diner.

“Well, just the one phrase really. And a few other rude ones Donna taught me. Would love to learn more though.”

“I’ll have to teach you. I did an A-level in it.”

“Ah. So many things to learn about you, Rose Tyler.”

“Good thing we’ve got the rest of our lives then,” she bumped his shoulder and sent him a playful, tongue-touched grin.

“Indeed,” he growled and bumped her shoulder back. “Soulmate.”

* * *

Rose floated on a cloud all day. They had breakfast and made snow angels. They came upon a group of students in a snowball fight and had to join, of course. They found the perfect spot to make snowmen versions of themselves. By this point, they were freezing and exhausted, so they warmed up with lunch in a cafeteria before heading home.

“I never want this day to end,” she confessed around a yawn she could no longer hold back. They had walked back to her flat from the cafeteria and were nearing her door.

“Me either.” He mirrored her yawn.

“Maybe we can study together tomorrow?”

“We’d actually have to study though. We do have finals this week.” He winked, knowing discipline would be difficult.

“Ok, how about dinner then? A good study break.” She stopped in front of her door.

“Are you asking me on a date, Rose Tyler?” He leaned in, cheeks red and eyes shining and that really great hair falling down over his forehead.

Instinctively, she reached up to brush it back in place. “Maybe I am.”

“Pick you up at 7?”

“Yeah.” She stretched up even closer on her toes and let her gaze fall to his lips. Her hands landed gently on his chest and his on her waist.

“Tomorrow it is then,” he mumbled, neither of them focused on the conversation any longer. His lips met hers lightly, then she returned the kiss with more pressure, which he returned with equal enthusiasm.

It was brief, but declared their intent quite clearly. It couldn’t be interpreted as anything other than a promise of a bright future to come.

Literally, in fact.

Rose found that even as he walked away, and she watched him from her window until he was out of sight, the colors around her stayed as warm and bright as they had been with him. It was a constant reminder, even more than her soulmark, that there was reason to hope. Even in the darkness and cold of the long winter, their budding relationship warmed her heart just as the colors around her had warmed permanently with their first kiss.


End file.
